Trouble A-Bruin: On UCLA And Who Schools Choose To Redeem

The consequences of a Jim Crowed disciplinary process have been evident since day 1. Consider just these three findings:

• According to a 2007 study by the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, black students accounted for 17.1 percent of U.S. student populations in 1998, but represented 32.1 percent of students suspended as a result of rule violations. The study also names this statistic from a national survey of high school students: the number of students who reported the presence of security guards and/or police officers in their schools rose from 54 percent in 1999 to 70 percent in 2003.
• In a separate study of 15 major American cities, the Applied Research Center found black students “report higher than expected” suspension and expulsion rates in all fifteen.  In Chicago, while African American students accounted for just over half the district students, they represented almost 2/3s of the students suspended and close to 3/4s of those expelled.
• According to a report compiled by the Transnational Racial Justice Initiative,

While zero tolerance penalties appear to be racially neutral, they can be applied in very subjective ways, influenced by racial prejudice. For example, parents involved in Indian People’s Action in Missoula, Montana reported that their children were being disciplined for ‘defiance of authority’ if they didn’t look their teachers in the eye when being reprimanded, even though it is disrespectful in some Native American cultures for a young person to look directly at an elder in such an interaction. . . .

Evidence suggests that schools are more willing to recognize mitigating circumstances when they perceive the student involved in an incident as having “a real future” that would be destroyed by expulsion. Overwhelmingly, it is

African American and Latino students whose futures are wrecked by zero tolerance policies. Too often, we receive reports of cases where white students are given the benefit of the doubt, while students of color (due to prevailing stereotypes and negative imagery) are presumed guilty until they can prove themselves innocent — if they are even afforded the privilege of a defense.

This trend continues today with roughly 4 students arrested each and every day in New York City schools, with a disproportionate number of black and Latino youth subjected to this form of state power. New York has also seen racial inequality in terms of school suspensions and other disciplinary measures:

• Black students, who compose 33 percent of the student body, served 53 percent of suspensions over the past 10 years. Black students with disabilities represent more than 50 percent of suspended students with disabilities.
• Black students served longer suspensions on average and were more likely to be suspended for subjective misconduct, like profanity and insubordination.

The process of “white students leav[ing] high school with diplomas” and African Americans “leaving in police cars” reflects a willingness and a desire to discipline and punish people of color in ways not experienced by whites within American society. Whether dismissing as an aberration, a sign of immaturity, a phase, or just insignificant, the power of the white racial frame is in clear operate.

Courtesy People Magazine

These injustices aren’t limited to K-12, but can extend into the collegiate ranks as well. Following the suspension of Brigham Young player Brandon Davies last year for violating the school’s Honor Code, Deadspin’s Darron Smith and Luke O’Brien demonstrated the school’s selective enforcement of those policies.

Page 2 of 3 | Previous page | Next page